MODE V. QRAN1TE. 



ideas concerning the manner in which it was sculp- 

 tured by the ancients, as they may perhaps afford 

 useful hints to the modern artist"*. 



" Some further observations occur -concerning 

 the Barberini obelisk, in the engraving of which 

 some instruments seem to have been used, of 

 which there is no vestige in the large obelisks; 

 for the straight lines, or those which form segments 

 of circles, are neither sharply cut, nor have they 

 an equal depth ; but the concave bottom is deeper 

 in the middle part, and fainter at each end, till 

 the lines gradually vanish. Nor do they terminate 

 precisely in the point assumed by the sculptor; 

 but the slender portion extends beyond the limits 

 of the figure. 



" Hence it is clear that the furrows were not 

 made with a graver, nor with emery, rubbed as 

 usual with a blade in the form of a knife, but 

 with a kind of semicircular saw, to which emery 

 was subjected, and by alternate motions of that 

 instrument. But in the right lines only ; for where 

 they are curved the saw must also have been of 

 that shape. When however the figures, which 

 rise in the cavities, are more turgid, and each part 

 disfigured with some globosity, it is probable that 

 they were formed with a little auger or trepan, or 



* For the original, see Appendix. 



